Melanie Gosling
Environment Writer
GREAT white sharks are moving away from Seal Island closer inshore to False Bay beaches – a seasonal response to last summer’s seal pups growing older and wiser and more difficult to catch.
The sharks’ inshore movement is also a response to migratory prey species, such as yellowtail, moving into False Bay as sea temperatures begin to warm with the approach of spring.
Capetonians, who live alongside one of the world’s largest concentrations of great white sharks, have been warned by the city council of increased shark sightings inshore along the False Bay coast, and that the number will probably increase over the next few months, peaking between September and November.
Data from shark spotters reveal that 65 percent of the inshore sightings have been at Muizenberg and Fish Hoek. The sharks were seen swimming behind the breakers, travelling parallel to the shore. The latest inshore sighting was at Muizenberg on Monday.
The public has been warned specifically not to swim off Jaegers Walk in Fish Hoek, considered to be a high risk area, while surfers have been warned to be vigilant during summer between Sunrise Beach and Strandfontein, and at Macassar Beach.
Shark scientist Alison Kock said researchers had recorded this seasonal movement of sharks over several years. The great whites preyed on seal pups around Seal Island from April through most of the winter. The pups are born in December and January, but suckle from their mothers for the first three or four months of their lives.
“So in summer the pups are not available as prey. But when they are about three or four months old, in April or May, the pups start to supplement their diet and go into deeper water.
“The pups are very naive and inexperienced and are preyed on. As they get older, they work out anti-predator behaviour and leave the island in tight groups, making it more difficult for them to be caught.”
Kock said Capetonians had a “pretty progressive” attitude to great whites.
“I have seen a major improvement in people’s attitude to sharks here compared to other areas,” Kock said.
A case in point was the reaction in the Seychelles, where sharks were being hunted after two foreign tourists were killed by sharks in separate incidents earlier this month. The Seychelles government put out a R50 000 reward to anyone who killed the shark. More than 40 sharks have been killed so far.
“They’re hunting and killing shark species which could not possibly be responsible,” Kock said.
She said part of the reason for Capetonians’ attitude was their unique situation.
“We have a major city with tens of thousands using the sea, and one of the largest aggregations of white sharks in the world. That is unique, and I think contributes to people’s progressive attitudes.
“In the US, they mostly have an attitude of if you go into the ocean, you do it at you own risk. In Australia, they have put up shark nets, as they have on our east coast. But Cape Town seems to have balanced the needs of the public with the needs of marine eco-systems.”